Fort Lee Hardware & Supply Co. has stood for different things to different people. Whether one went there simply to buy a hammer, catch up on town news or to earn a paycheck — and be lured into volunteering as a firefighter in the process — the mom-and-pop store has been a fixture on downtown Main Street.

But after 66 years, the store owners have decided to close.

Brothers Terry and Bruce Holtje took over the store from their father, Harry Holtje, in 1977. But the business has been losing money for the past decade, with changing consumer tastes.

Like many in the hardware business, the Holtjes have struggled to remain competitive with big-box retailers like Home Depot or Lowe's that offer lower prices. At its peak, Fort Lee had three hardware stores, but the others eventually folded, the brothers said. In the past two weeks, two other hardware stores in Bergen County also announced their closures: Mitchell Simon in Englewood and Ludewig's Hardware in Teaneck.

But the Holtjes say they've been blessed with fiercely loyal customers, and friends who would work for free in the store to help them keep expenses down.

The owners, in turn, did their part to watch out for their customers.

Bruce, 68, once honored a coupon that had expired three years earlier. After superstorm Sandy, Terry, 73, drove to upstate New York to purchase a generator, flashlights and batteries for customers who requested them.

When a fire alarm in town went off, the Holtjes allowed their employees — many of whom worked as volunteer firefighters — to take off without docking their pay. Over 50 years, that cost the business about $100,000, Terry estimates. (The Holtjes themselves are volunteer firefighters, and Harry, Terry and Bruce had all served as fire chief at one point.)

John Klein, a retired Fort Lee police officer and former fire chief whose first job was working for the Holtjes, noted that nearly every store employee ended up volunteering with the fire department.

"It was always a joke that it was a stepping stone," Klein said. "If you wanted to be chief of the fire department, you had to work at the hardware store."

"If you came in to buy something, it wasn't a short visit. It was always a conversation that lasted awhile. And people would stop in if they had nothing to buy."

Those whom the Holtjes helped never forgot about the family, either.

Vinny Luppino, co-owner of R.L. Investors LLC, a family-run real estate development company, said Harry Holtje gave his father and uncle store credit to start their business when they first arrived in America in the late 1940s, uneducated and barely speaking English.

"They gave us a shot," said Luppino, whose family patronized the store for six decades. Luppino said he would miss the personal attention and care.

Dennis Shim, a real estate agent representing the new property owner, Il Chung Ha, said his client is looking for a tenant to lease the space and has spoken to more than 20 businesses, ranging from bakeries and restaurants to clothing stores and office buildings.

The brothers are looking toward to retirement. Terry will remain in Edgewater and Bruce and his wife will join their children in Tennessee.

"It's going to be tough walking out the door when it's all done," Terry said. "There's plenty of ghosts here — good ghosts."